Lord Alton of Liverpool has asked the British government when it first became aware that the remains of aborted and miscarried foetuses had been used to heat some hospitals, and what action they intend to take against those who were responsible making such arrangements.
The pro-life peer tabled the question in Britain’s House of Lords on Tuesday after an investigation revealed that the bodies of thousands of aborted and miscarried babies were incinerated as clinical waste, with some even used to heat hospitals.
Ten National Health Service trusts have admitted burning the remains of unborn babies along with rubbish, while two others used the bodies in ‘waste-to-energy’ plants which generate power for heat, according to a report in The Daily Telegraph.
The remains of at least 15,500 unborn babies were incinerated by 27 NHS trusts over the last two years alone, Channel 4’s Dispatches discovered.
The UK’s Department of Health issued an instant ban on the practice which health minister Dr Dan Poulter branded «totally unacceptable.»
Lord Alton said the fact that NHS officials in the UK would countenance the burning of the remains of miscarried and aborted unborn babies to heat hospitals «graphically illustrates our complete indifference to the intrinsic value and worth of every life.
“It is also indicative of a new brutalism which informs so many of our attitudes,” he said.
“The industrialized mass destruction of human life has become a mundane and an everyday occurrence: so routine, that when it is done, over and over again – with around 600 abortions every day in the UK – people stop thinking about the ethics of their actions,” Lord Alton continued.
“Once a society accepts that this routine taking of innocent life is just another consumer choice, it’s a simple step to treat the mortal remains of a nascent human being as so much rubbish to be burnt, their involuntary contribution to saving the NHS money on heating bills,” the crossbench peer said. “And those who authorise it see nothing wrong or unusual in their decision.”
Britain’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals said he was “disappointed” by the revelations. This was “a masterpiece of under-statement,” Lord Alton said. “It’s not the word I would have used.”
“I have tabled a question in Parliament asking the Government when they first became aware that this was happening and what action they intend to take to challenge those who have been responsible,” he said.
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On the NET: Aborted babies incinerated to heat UK hospitals
